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July 27, 1977 is a critical date in the storied career of Mark Knopfler. On that day he and his formative band recorded five demo tracks including Sultans of Swing, Wild West End and Down to the Waterline. Their first breakthrough came with their self-titled album Dire Straits.

Strangely it was in the Netherlands that the album began to get noticed first, but their own country was about the final place where the now successful release began its journey to the top.

Over the next 18 years Dire Straits were huge, but by 1995 Knopfler was disillusioned by the relentless touring and dissolved the band.